The Whanaungatanga Program - Fire & Emergency New Zealand

Fire & Emergency New Zealand developed the Whanaungatanga Program to improve the wellbeing of New Zealand’s firefighters by making organisational changes that promote connection, trust, a strong sense of value and belonging.

This initiative is supported by Movember and The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride Veterans & First Responders Mental Health Grant Program. It's 1 of 15 global projects focused on preventing men’s mental ill-health and suicide among veterans and first responders. Currently piloted with firefighters and commanders in Auckland and Whangārei, the program is already showing promising results.

The Whanaungatanga Program seeks to improve wellbeing by:

• identifying and eliminating or minimising the organisational factors that contribute to mental ill-health
• identifying and promoting the organisational factors that contribute to wellbeing.

The program is led by a team of career firefighters and managers with the support of world leading researchers and clinicians. This team is using findings from a national wellbeing survey, as well as workshops with around 500 career firefighters and managers, to develop and implement organisational change interventions.

This vital work would not have been possible without the support of our incredible community across New Zealand and we are excited to see the great impact it will continue to have for all our first responders.

We're committed to continuing our impact with Fire and Emergency New Zealand.

See more of Movember's work with Veterans & First Responders.